Nature reports that scientists using phone call records toward humanitarian efforts are under scrutiny regarding the ethical use of data in their research. The "data for good" projects have been ongoing in more than two dozen low- to middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, Kenya and Pakistan. The projects analyze phone records to create positive outcomes, such as delivering aid and discovering exact locations of poverty, social isolation and violence. While the projects are receiving heavy backing and praise, privacy advocates are calling for the creation of guidelines to help avoid issues with unregulated use and potential misuse of the phone data. Editor's Note: IAPP Vice President and Chief Knowledge Officer Omer Tene and United Nations Global Pulse Legal and Privacy Specialist Mila Romanoff penned a Privacy Perspectives post last October on how to build ethics into privacy regulations for big data and artificial intelligence.
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